The Madman

Wearing his Advanced Student ID, Luo Yuan walked out of the testing hall. His appearance at the registration desk caused an immediate stir. The newcomers waiting in line stared at the ID on his chest in shock, while those who had mocked him lowered their heads in shame, afraid he might spot them and hold a grudge.

Luo Yuan ignored them and walked straight over to the friendly female examiner. The mature, alluring woman greeted him with a warm smile.

"Is there anything else you need?" the examiner asked with a smile, a spark of interest in her eyes. As a Quasi-Martial Artist, she had seen plenty of talented people at the Limitless Martial Hall, but newcomers who qualified as advanced students on their very first visit were rare.

"I wanted to ask if someone like me still has to pay tuition," Luo Yuan asked evenly.

"No. For a martial arts talent like you, the Limitless Martial Hall not only waives tuition but also provides a monthly stipend of five thousand. Welcome to the Limitless Martial Hall."

"Thank you. That's all, then. I'll be going."

Luo Yuan left through the newcomer registration passage, then headed toward the entrance reserved for students.

Beep! Luo Yuan scanned his student badge at the main entrance and entered the martial hall's grounds.

The soldier guarding the entrance stared after Luo Yuan, dumbfounded. Wasn't this the newcomer who had come to the wrong entrance earlier? How had he become an advanced student in the blink of an eye?

"Senior!"

"Hello, senior."

Many students stood along the paths and on the lawns inside the grounds. The moment they saw the Advanced Student ID hanging from Luo Yuan's chest, they all treated him with great respect.

"Huh? How come I've never seen that advanced student before?" a student on the path suddenly asked his companion in confusion.

"No idea. Maybe he was just promoted to Advanced Student. We can check the list published by the Limitless Martial Hall."

With respectful greetings following him all the way, Luo Yuan reached the third floor of the advanced students' teaching building. This floor was reserved exclusively for advanced students.

The third floor housed a huge Martial Arts Hall measuring a full hundred meters in both length and width, yet there were only a dozen or so people inside.

"Seriously? That's all?" Luo Yuan muttered, a little disappointed.

"Oh? Are you a newly promoted advanced student, little brother? So young, too. Looks like we have another martial arts prodigy." A mature beauty in her twenties stopped what she was doing and fixed a smoldering gaze on Luo Yuan as he entered.

"All right, Li Qiong, don't scare him. Young man, my name's Yang Wu. You can call me Brother Yang. I'm a regular here, so come find me if you ever need anything." A lean, powerfully built man over 1.9 meters tall walked over with a smile. A fierce-looking scar marked his face.

"Sure, Brother Yang. I wanted to ask—why are there so few people in such a big Martial Arts Hall?" Luo Yuan asked directly.

"Well, although the Limitless Martial Hall has over a hundred advanced students, most don't bother coming unless an instructor is giving a lesson. Usually, only people whose families are poor and who have nowhere else to train come here to train in the Martial Arts Hall. Wealthy families generally have their own dedicated training rooms," Yang Wu explained patiently.

"Uh, all right. The economic base really does determine the superstructure. Rich people get privileges wherever they go." Luo Yuan curled his lip.

"This Martial Arts Hall is spacious. Feel free to train wherever you like." With that, Yang Wu went to a corner and started pumping iron. He lifted a barbell weighing several hundred kilograms as though it were a toy, his bare pectorals twitching constantly in a display brimming with homoerotic energy. Then he flashed Luo Yuan a brilliant smile, making him shudder.

Excitement filled Luo Yuan's eyes as he looked at the bubbles scattered around the Martial Arts Hall. Surely these would be different from the ones dropped by beginner and intermediate students? He casually walked up to a red bubble and touched it.

Strength +2

Luo Yuan felt no change. The increase was probably too small. A glance around revealed only a few dozen bubbles, most of them red. Did the colors make a difference? He decided to test it and walked toward a white bubble.

Strength +1

Speed +1

Luo Yuan began to get the picture. Bubbles of different colors did indeed grant different numbers of attribute points, but the type of attribute seemed random.

Once he understood, he collected all the dozens of bubbles in the training hall. He spent the entire morning gathering them in the advanced students' hall, but the bubbles dropping from those students grew fewer and fewer. Apparently, there was a limit to how many attribute bubbles each person could drop within a given period. Otherwise, he could have kept collecting them forever.

Seeing that there were hardly any attribute bubbles left to collect in the Advanced Student Martial Arts Hall, Luo Yuan headed to the Intermediate Student and beginner students' Martial Arts Halls. Each bubble might grant fewer points, but there were plenty of them.

The Intermediate Students and beginner students were astonished to see an advanced student like Luo Yuan enter their Martial Arts Halls. Some excitedly tried to approach him for help with problems they had encountered in their training, but Luo Yuan ignored them completely. Instead, he raced around the Martial Arts Halls collecting attributes at a speed none of them could keep up with.

Luo Yuan had to dodge the students while collecting attributes, which also improved his reaction speed. As his evasive movements grew more practiced, he felt that his movement technique seemed to have reached a certain level. He decided to look into it when he had the chance.

Luo Yuan spent the entire afternoon collecting attributes in the beginner and intermediate students' Martial Arts Halls. His strange behavior made him famous throughout the Yangzhou Limitless Martial Hall, earning him the nickname "Madman"—a madman who ran wild everywhere.

Luo Feng had once earned the nickname "Madman" after angrily challenging three advanced students from wealthy families in succession and defeating them all, but only some advanced students knew about it. Luo Yuan's "Madman" nickname, however, became known to every student in the Limitless Martial Hall. He did not care. His skin had long since grown thicker than steel plate, and other people's judgment no longer bothered him.

Still, Luo Yuan's strange behavior drew the attention of Jiang Nian, the head of this branch of the Limitless Martial Hall. Watching Luo Yuan's astonishing speed and ghostlike movements on the surveillance screen, his eyes gleamed. Evasive movement techniques were divided into basic level, micro level, Perfect Level, and artistic conception level, and Luo Yuan's technique was already very close to micro level.

"Pull up his personal file," Jiang Nian told the staff member operating the electronic equipment.

Luo Yuan's personal information then appeared on the electronic screen.

Luo Yuan, eighteen years old, orphan, height: 179 cm, weight: 68 kg, final-year high school student in Yian, average academic performance, keeps a low profile, no martial arts training experience, passed the advanced student assessment this morning with excellent results.

"Interesting. This youngster really kept quiet until he could stun everyone. A Warrior must have been teaching him privately. Otherwise, he couldn't have started out at the advanced student level. But why does he like running all over the Martial Arts Halls in our Limitless Martial Hall? Is he practicing his movement technique?" Jiang Nian rubbed his chin, utterly puzzled.

P.S. To all you true gods out there, please send tips, vote with your monthly tickets, and add this story to your favorites. Luo Yuan bows before you.